MUMBAI: India has the highest proportion of people who are worried about the safety of consumer goods, especially children's products and food items. This is because among the world's top four consumer markets, including US, China and Germany , it is in India that consumers have suffered the highest number of product safety incidents in the last five years, with allergic reactions being the top issue, followed by cuts from sharp edges and food poisoning.

Against 44-65% of consumers in the other three countries who have had negative product safety experiences, the proportion in India is 84%. At the same time, safeproduct practices are low among businesses in India.Against 69% of companies in Germany and 65% in the US, only 37% of companies in India focus on safety during the design and development stage of a product.

In China, this figure is 48%. Even on other safety parameters, like in-house product testing, training of staff on safety issues, and sourcing from only trusted suppliers, India scores either the lowest, or only better than China, with the US and Germany being far ahead of both.Again, in contrast with the other countries, Indian businesses consider distributors and retailers their closest allies in ensuring product safety. At 20%, India scores the lowest when it comes to putting third party inspection measures in place.

The revelations are of an international survey , Safety Gauge 2016, conducted by the Munich-headquartered TÜV SÜD, a leading product testing, certification & training company . The sample size was 7,000 consumers and 500 businesses. The survey found that food products like dairy items and processed food, children's goods, and electronic gadgets like cellphones top consumers' safety priorities.

It has been found that in India people still give more weightage to brand without ensuring that there's compliance with safety standards set by the government, ensured by reliable third parties (like product auditors): safety of chemicals used, material used and warranty or guaranty are of concern, but not overall product safety.

Nevertheless, the study notes that safety awareness is rising gradually: "The rise in global brands foraying into India, an exponential surge in spending power, and technology are driving awareness among Indian consumers.Conversations around the safety of consumer products is increasing among them." Consumer affairs expert Jehangir Gai said consumers are always at the receiving end in India and hardly get justice. "They believe in brands because they consider that given a brand's reputation, the product must be authentic. But that is rare."